


The Mysterious Disappearance of Cat the Cat

by truethingsproved



Series: Talk revolution to me, baby. [15]
Category: Les Misérables (2012), Les Misérables - All Media Types, Les Misérables - Schönberg/Boublil, Les Misérables - Victor Hugo
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, DID YOU MISS ME I MISSED YOU, M/M, cat the cat, trtmb
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-18
Updated: 2014-05-18
Packaged: 2018-01-25 16:01:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1654358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/truethingsproved/pseuds/truethingsproved
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All in all, it feels like home, like a better home than she’s ever had. This is the only family she’s ever wanted: Enjolras reading the news, bleary eyed, over her shoulder while Bahorel and Courfeyrac make dinner and try to outdo one another singing opera as loudly as they can (until Cosette and Enjolras inevitably join, embarrassing everyone into silence—the first time Mary Kate hears them sing she literally falls off her chair in surprise, sending Cat barreling through the apartment looking for a safer perch than her lap. “Voice lessons,” Cosette explains with a shrug, and Enjolras just grins); Bossuet and Joly fussing over one another; Feuilly and Jehan pushing each other over on the sofa to make room and pretending not to be watching Pretty Little Liars with Mary Kate; Combeferre setting the table while Musichetta and Eponine dance; Marius poking his head into the kitchen and asking if he can help.</p><p>And her brother, always her brother, leaning against the wall and watching them with a serene smile that says yes, this is home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Mysterious Disappearance of Cat the Cat

Mary Kate doesn’t expect to see her family at graduation. In all honesty, she’s been preparing herself for this for a while, for walking the stage without a single person she loves in attendance. Her parents have barely spoken to her since she got back from her brother’s, and she’s almost grateful that they won’t be coming; after all, if they came, they’d have to try and pretend to be functional, and to be entirely honest she doesn’t think she’s got the patience for that, not today.

One of her friends invites her over to get ready, and they’re all curling each other’s hair and painting each other’s nails and laughing, and when her childhood best friend’s mother kisses her and tells her she’s proud, Mary Kate can almost imagine that she has parents who give a damn.

It’s not until graduation has already begun and they’re sitting on the stage while the class valedictorian is giving some half-assed speech that she spots a familiar head of inky curls. And it’s not until she hears her name called out— _Marie Catherine Grantaire_ —and she stands to accept her diploma that she sees his face. He stands and applauds, whooping loudly, and even Enjolras is there, grinning and clapping politely and holding a bouquet of brightly colored flowers in his lap, but the entire world shrinks.

The only person there is her brother, and he’s staring at her with pride and she feels herself starting to cry. Of course she expected to cry at graduation—but she didn’t expect to be quite so happy about it.

When the last name has been called she jumps down from the stage, pushing through the crowd of parents and ignoring as her graduation cap falls from her head, to jump into her brother’s arms and hug him so tightly she worries she might snap him in half, but Grantaire just spins her around, laughing and cheering, and when he finally releases her Enjolras hugs her tightly and presents her with flowers, and this, this is all the family she needs.

\------

All of Mary Kate’s things are packed away in boxes, waiting in a storage unit a few miles away from her brother’s apartment. He’d helped her pack the night before, pausing every now and again to spin her dramatically in time with the music she put in her parents’ overpriced stereo system, while Enjolras snickered and shook his head and taped and labeled box after box. They ended the night sharing a joint, sprawled out together on the sofa with Grantaire’s head in Enjolras’ lap and Mary Kate’s legs crossed over his, and when they woke it was to Enjolras making them a massive brunch filled with so much food that they had enough to bring the doorman.

(Even he remembered her graduation, and he produced a card from behind the front desk to present to her with a gift card tucked into the envelope, and she kisses him on the cheek because Hugh has been like family for as long as she can remember.)

The forty-one hour car ride back from Seattle is stretched over two and a half days, with the three of them taking turns driving. Enjolras always, without fail, puts on talk radio until they find a topic they feel like arguing, whereas she and Grantaire favor awful top forty songs that they belt along to like they’re on American Idol. They stop at a bed and breakfast the first night and rent two rooms, but they end up asleep all together in the same bed, Enjolras tucked into Grantaire’s side and Mary Kate nestled against her brother’s shoulder. The second night is similar, except that this time, they just get the one room, grinning at the receptionist as she tried, without much attempt at subtlety, to figure out who’s having sex and who’s related.

Finally, Mary Kate grins and slips her arms around both their waists and winked. At first the receptionist looks startled, but then she flashes Mary Kate a thumbs up as they head to the elevator (where Enjolras let out a small whine and took off in search of stairs).

They spend the night talking, drinking cheap wine and eating their way through a dozen donuts, and Mary Kate only barely makes it back to her bed before all but collapsing into sleep.

\------

She sleeps on the couch in her brother’s apartment, made up with a stack of blankets that she sleeps on top of, usually in her underwear and a tee shirt she’s stolen from Grantaire or Courfeyrac, she can’t remember. Courfeyrac is used to her, and thinks that it’s funny when Enjolras walks out the first night he stays there and she’s wandering around yawning and wearing a pair of boxers and a paint-stained undershirt and nothing else.

(For years he will maintain that he doesn’t shriek or slap his hand over his eyes, and she will cheerfully add that it’s a damn good thing his boyfriend has a hot sister.)

Since her last visit, the cat’s gone and gotten another cat pregnant, and now there are tiny wobbling kittens in everyone’s apartments, even Enjolras’. The little one there is called Lady, and she’s adventurous, sniffing around everywhere and sleeping in the strangest places (especially in piles of dirty clothes, she _loves_ that, and since Enjolras is an absolute slob, she’s in a good home).

Mary Kate loves it, loves the kittens crawling all over her no matter who she visits and stays with, positively adores that there’s something small and loud and mildly whiny that isn’t her. Cat has missed her, and he climbs on her incessantly, draping himself over her shoulders or across her lap and looking betrayed beyond reason should she _dare_ try and stand or move.

All in all, it feels like home, like a better home than she’s ever had. This is the only family she’s ever wanted: Enjolras reading the news, bleary eyed, over her shoulder while Bahorel and Courfeyrac make dinner and try to outdo one another singing opera as loudly as they can (until Cosette and Enjolras inevitably join, embarrassing everyone into silence—the first time Mary Kate hears them sing she literally falls off her chair in surprise, sending Cat barreling through the apartment looking for a safer perch than her lap. “Voice lessons,” Cosette explains with a shrug, and Enjolras just grins); Bossuet and Joly fussing over one another; Feuilly and Jehan pushing each other over on the sofa to make room and pretending not to be watching Pretty Little Liars with Mary Kate; Combeferre setting the table while Musichetta and Eponine dance; Marius poking his head into the kitchen and asking if he can help.

And her brother, always her brother, leaning against the wall and watching them with a serene smile that says _yes, this is home._

\------

She’s there a week when Grantaire comes into the apartment practically vibrating from excitement. “I have a surprise for you,” he says, holding out an envelope with a satisfied grin; she opens the envelope and flings herself up from the couch and at her brother, ignoring Cat’s yowl of disapproval and the loud _thump_ of Grantaire getting knocked over onto the floor. “Happy graduation, kid,” he laughs, collecting the plane tickets from where they’d fallen when she’d jumped up.

Enjolras comes out of Grantaire’s bedroom with a yawn, frowning at the spectacle. “Did I miss something?” he groans, gathering the cat up into his arms, only to shriek and drop him on the sofa again when Cat tries to open his carotid.

“We’re going to Ireland!” Mary Kate shrieks, jumping up only to tackle Enjolras, and when Jehan and Courfeyrac come out they don’t ask questions, simply join the pile.

\------

 _“I watched five consecutive episodes of Game of Thrones on the plane,”_ Mary Kate narrates. She’s propped up on a pile of pillows in a hotel room, her brother lounging next to her, and even over Skype Enjolras can see that she’s having the time of her life. _“We’re both totally beat, but so far, it’s gorgeous. We’re staying in this little town just outside of Dublin—I think it’s pronounced Dun Lug-air? Dun leg hair? I don’t know.”_

Beside her, Grantaire snickers. _“It’s pronounced like Dun Lee-ry,”_ he explains, and she shrugs, trying it out once or twice before leaving it be.

“Isn’t it late there?” Enjolras asks, and Grantaire nods, looking exhausted, while Mary Kate shakes her head vehemently.

 _“The only problem with Dun Laoghaire is that I couldn’t find any clubs around here,”_ she pouts, but she falls asleep while Grantaire and Enjolras are still talking and Grantaire has to carry her to bed. When he’s finished yanking her shoes off and tucking her in, he returns to the computer.

“I’ll talk to you later,” Enjolras says. “Go get some sleep.”

 _“Sounds like a plan, good sir,”_ Grantaire replies with a yawn. _“Talk to you later, fearless leader. G’night.”_

“Goodnight,” Enjolras answers, and he adds, “I love you,” before realizing what he’s said, and he ends the call on Grantaire’s shocked face.

It takes him a moment to realize the gravity of his words, and he covers his face and falls back on the bed and whispers _shit shit shit shit shit_ long enough that even the cat doesn’t bother him that night.

\------

Grantaire and Mary Kate are gone a total of two days when Enjolras realizes that Cat isn’t in the apartment.

Normally, he is, in all his angry, snarling, scratch-my-belly-or-I’ll-maim-you glory. He wakes up to Cat curled up on his stomach, or his face, more often than not, and so when he doesn’t, he’s confused, but not concerned. When he goes the entire day without seeing the cat, that confusion morphs straight past concern into chaos.

Given his already fragile state, this is one of the least helpful things that could possibly have happened. For starters, he and Grantaire haven’t spoken since the first day. Not for lack of trying, of course, but with the time difference and Enjolras’ internship starting up, their schedules have been entirely impossible to sync. They’ve left each other voicemails and sent emails and Grantaire even sent him pictures of them in Dublin, Mary Kate with her very first pint of Guinness and looking excited and steady on her feet, her brother just barely in the frame grinning wickedly; then, Mary Kate with her very first Jameson, looking less steady but just as excited and Grantaire’s grin all but taking over his face. Enjolras sends pictures in response—him in a suit and tie for his first day at his internship, the tiny cubicle he’s been placed in, Cosette and Courfeyrac singing to Korean pop songs at the top of their lungs as they walk down the street after a night out. Neither of them say ‘I love you’ again. In fact, they don’t even mention it.

Besides that, he’s started listening to the same Korean pop songs that Courfeyrac is making Cosette listen to, and one minute he was fine and the next he knew every member of that boy band by name and appearance. After resisting the pull of One Direction for so long, it feels like a defeat, but he can’t stop himself.

More importantly, _Cat is missing._ And if Enjolras can’t even keep his eye on his boyfriend’s cat for two weeks while he’s on vacation, he really can’t do much of anything, like maintain a relationship or a career or a life to be proud of.

After the second day of Cat’s disappearance, Enjolras has started taking it personally. The cat knows what he’s doing to Enjolras. There’s no other explanation. “Awful bastard,” he mutters as he checks under the sink. Again.

Grantaire calls again and, luckily, Enjolras is available when he does. _“How is everything over there?”_

“Fine,” Enjolras says, a little too quickly. “Everything’s fine. Everything’s great. How’s Ireland?”

_“We’re going to spend the weekend in Connemara; then head towards the Cliffs of Moher. Mary Kate’s loving it, and so am I. I wish you were here.”_

Enjolras can’t stop the smile spreading across his face. “I do, too,” he confesses. “I miss you.”

 _“I miss you, too._ ”

They manage to almost finish the conversation without Enjolras having a heart attack when Grantaire asks, _“How’s the cat?”_

“Fine! Fine, fine, he’s fine. Hasn’t tried to kill me once. I count that as a victory. Hey, I’ve got to go. I’ll talk to you later.”

He slams his laptop shut, drags himself out of bed, and heads out to look for Cat. Again.

\------

“I’m telling you, the cat will be fine. He’s a cat. Cats tend to do their own thing without human interference and they manage just fine.”

Mary Kate can’t quite find the words to respond to that— _yes, but this is Enjolras we’re talking about, he can’t handle anything that doesn’t talk to him about politics_ seems almost too snarky—so she doesn’t comment.

Grantaire covers his mouth with the back of his hand, giggling so hard that his sides start to hurt. “Besides, Cat’s just hiding in the laundry room. He does it all the time. I want to see how long Enjolras goes without telling me.”

\------

Enjolras organizes search parties to spread out around the city in search of Cat. He designs a flyer, then realizes that they don’t have any recognizable pictures of Cat that don’t involve him trying to drink Bailey’s from Grantaire’s glass and scraps the idea. He sends them out in shifts, and spends his entire weekend searching, peering behind every dumpster and tentatively calling, “Cat?” down every alley.

The date of Mary Kate’s and Grantaire’s return is fast approaching, and Enjolras starts scripting explanations of “I lost your cat, but I think he did it just to spite me, please don’t hate me” in his spare time. Every time Grantaire calls now, he asks about Cat, and Enjolras has sworn all of his friends to secrecy.

“I mean, we just have to find him before R gets home, right?” Enjolras says, a little desperately. “It can’t be that hard. The cat’s a monster. A murderous monster. Use me as bait.”

The rest of lunch is spent with Bahorel and Cosette debating how, exactly, they could make that happen without sending Enjolras naked into the streets with bags of cat food, and Enjolras calls for the check a little more concerned for his friends than he’s ever been before.

\------

“You don’t think you’re being a little mean?” Mary Kate asks. “You should tell him you know where Cat is; he’s probably losing his shit trying to find him.”

Grantaire chews on his burger with a smug sort of grin and takes a long drink of his beer. “He should tell me my cat is missing,” he replies cheerfully. “Honestly. Imagine him with kids.”

“Are you going to say it back?” Maybe Mary Kate shouldn’t be quite so nosy about her brother’s personal life, but she doesn’t care about ‘should’ as much as she cares about being as up-to-date as possible.

Grantaire doesn’t answer, but he doesn’t need to. Mary Kate knows.

\------

Cosette and Marius go to pick Mary Kate and Grantaire up from the airport, Cosette and Mary Kate running slow-motion into each other’s arms while Grantaire warbles ‘At Last’ behind them. “Enjolras didn’t come?” Grantaire asks with a wicked grin, and Cosette (who figured his game out days ago) grins right back, shaking her head.

“He’s still searching,” she stage-whispers, and Marius casts them both a despairing look before piling the luggage into the trunk of his car.

When Grantaire and Mary Kate get back to the apartment, Enjolras throws the door open with wide, panicked eyes. “Hey,” Grantaire says, stepping forward to kiss him in greeting, and Enjolras lets out a choked noise of worry.

“I have to tell you—”

“Ireland was gorgeous,” Grantaire continues, as if Enjolras hadn’t spoken at all. “Oh, you’d have loved it. You should go sometime—I’ll take you, show you all the places I saw. Can you believe we actually got to check out the old Jameson distillery?”

Behind them, Cosette is giggling into her hand, and Enjolras shakes his head.

“No, Grantaire, I have to—”

“Did you destroy the apartment while I was gone?”

“ _Grantaire._ ”

“Hold on, I want to see my cat, I missed him too, and you can’t exactly Skype your cat like you can your boyfriend.”

“That’s what I’m trying to tell you,” Enjolras tries desperately, but it’s not Grantaire that cuts him off this time.

It’s a small, pitiful mewling sound from the front door as Cat pads back in, only to be scooped into Mary Kate’s arms. Grantaire turns back to Enjolras with an innocent smile.

“What did you want to tell me?”

Enjolras simply opens his mouth, then closes it again. “Nothing,” he says, vaguely, and Grantaire grins.

“Next time,” he says, “tell me my cat’s gone, and I’ll tell you where to find him.”

“You’re the worst,” Enjolras accuses, his voice small and almost pitiful, but he’s laughing when he says it.

“I know,” Grantaire says, “but you love me anyway.”

\------

They’re curled up together in bed that night when Grantaire whispers it into Enjolras’ shoulder, his hair, the underside of his jaw, but never loudly enough for Enjolras to hear.

_I love you, I love you, oh, I love you._

He’ll tell him soon enough, when Enjolras has had time to decide if saying it was a mistake or not, but for now, this is enough.

**Author's Note:**

> oh, gosh, i missed trtmb.
> 
> as some of you know, today's my birthday!! i'm 21 (wooo) and so i'm celebrating by getting tipsy and updating this ridiculous fic.
> 
> for starters, i want to apologize for this taking a year for me to update. i have no excuse, i'm awful, i know. but i missed this fic so, so much; these characters, and this universe, are so important to me.
> 
> if this update is a bit rusty, please extend your kindness and your forgiving just a little bit; let me get back into the swing of things. i've already got an idea for the next update, so you can (hopefully) expect that soon.
> 
> i'm currently at susanspevensie on tumblr, so please please please, stop by, say hello, tell me what you think--i started writing this again because of all the incredible kindness and love and encouragement from my absolutely incredible readers, and i will continue writing it if you want me to.
> 
> megathanks to lee for reading and keeping the secret. thanks, lovely c:
> 
> i adore you ALL. thank you so much for everything. i hope you'll keep me around for a while longer. <3


End file.
